A Death of a Prodigy
by Cala Akina Morushiku
Summary: What I hope to happen to Zula....a very painful death. If you're squeamish, perhaps it's best to avoid.


Well, I think that most Zuko fans out there can agree that we don't like Zula. I hope that she turns out to be someone cooler than just some random lady who makes for more trouble for our poor Prince. In any case, after having a particullarly hateful anti-Zula conversation with our very own Ms. Hotspur (), I felt that I absolutely had to write out Zula's death scene. Enjoy!

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She writhed. Her body seemed to be racked with pain. Sprawled out on the floor, the once glorious princess thrashed about on the metal floor like a fish out of water. With a hand clenched to her face, she tried her best to conceal the wound covering her face. She hadn't been fast enough. She didn't close her eye in time. She knew that she would be blind. If only she had noticed that the Avatar was behind her. Zula had been too busy fighting her once weak brother to notice the little monk creeping up behind her. When he called out to her, she whirled around, but it was too late. The Fire completely seared her face, while she let out a deafening howl. She had fallen to the floor, clutching her face, tears of pain cascading down her face. That had been humiliating enough. But to see her brother, the Avatar, and the water tribe wenches run past her was too shameful. Zula fell onto her back; her hand stuck her face like glue. She didn't dare remove it, not because of physical pain, but she feared that if she lifted her hand, it would only confirm how ugly she must be now. 

"Zuko…" she whispered between clenched teeth, "You bastard…you were supposed to die."

_This shouldn't have happened. I am the strong one. I was the lucky one. I was the smartest. I am better than he will ever be. How could he have struck me down? What happened? How could this have happened to me? It must be a dream. It's a dream, a dream, a dream. When I wake up, I'll kill Zuko. I'll hunt him down and kill him. Tear his heart right out of his chest with my bare hands. I'll kill him. I swear on Agni's holy fire, I'll kill him. _

"Kill him…"

"Zula…" Zuko sounded to the girl's left. Zula strained her right eye to see him over her left hand which was still grasped to her face. She could just barely see his silhouette against the light of day streaming from the windows behind him. She would not remover her hand. She would not show him her pain, shame, and ugliness. "I'm sorry he did that to you…it was never my intent to hurt you…"

"Liar!" Zula spat, trying to send an arc of flames at him. With her impaired vision, the flames flew off to his right, nowhere close to touching Zuko. He walked a little towards her, but again she attacked. She would not have him close to her. Not that filth.

"The Fire Lord is defeated," Zuko said stiffly, seeing that his sister did not want him touching her. His news shocked her into immobility. He walked over to her and stood over the princess with an air of melancholy authority. "A lot has to be done to repair the damage the Fire Nation has done to the world for the past 100 years. I can't have you getting in my way. Zula, join with me or--"

"Or what? Die? I'd rather die than be seen with you! You're a disgrace, a failure, a weak link in the chain. I was meant to be heir. Me! Not you. You were always too nice. Too forgiving. I hope your empire crumbles. I hope that the world will experience a plague like none ever before. A curse on you and your empire!"

"Zula."

"I'll kill you, Zuko. When you least expect it, I'll come back and destroy you. Everyone will say that it was no surprise. Someone like you could never uphold the family honor. You disgraced yourself once, who's to say that you won't do it again?"

"Then I'll have to destroy you…"

"Good."

Zuko took a shaky breath in and stood over Zula, looking down at her face from her feet. He closed his golden eyes and bowed, as was the execution's custom. This received a bitter laugh from his sister.

"You should bow to me, you freak."

He opened his eyes and stared at her for a minute. She was not his sister, as far as Zula was concerned. But, even though Zuko had to endure her cruelty and her superiority over him all through the years, he could still see her as that little girl that ran with him in the fields. Now, she was almost a woman, beautiful and lean. If things had worked out the way he wanted, he would have found a suitable noble for her to marry. But it seemed that Zula would rather have death than the brotherly love of Zuko and so he decided that he would respect her wish and destroy her.

"I'm sorry things could not have worked out between us. We were once such good friends."

"Yes, we were, but I got smart. You were always the stupid one, Zuko. Stupid and nice. I'll miss the good laughs I had at your expense."

"Goodbye, Zula."

"Good riddance."

Zuko sent out a bolt of flames from his open palm. They grabbed tight to Zula's armor and under-armor and seared her flesh. She screeched, rolling furiously around on the ground, but the Fire would not let out. The Prince took a few wary steps back, watching, horrified, the pain Zula was experiencing. The sight of her flesh turning a bright red and peeling away like paint was too much for Zuko to bear and he turned his back and walked towards the door. He would not run, like his first instincts were directing him to. He would uphold the ceremony and leave her there to burn away and die. He would treat her with honor.

Zula finally settled on her back, convinced that no amount of Fire bending or rolling on the ground was going to put out this fire. It had a purpose, knew it, and would not yield to her. She still had not removed her hand from her left eye. She would not reveal it. She never would. No one in the world could know that she had a scar to match her brother's. Zula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai, was flawless and would remain that way forever. She was positioned so that she would see the doors of the palace wide open and a black figure getting smaller and smaller as it approached the sunlight. With her right hand, Zula desperately tried to grasp the boy disappearing into the light, her uniform in tatters and her skin blackening as the fire continued to consumer her.

"I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you,"

She was nearly sitting up now, hand outstretched, trying to get Zuko back.

"I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill--"

Fire roared in her ear.

Blackness consumed the light and the figure of Prince Zuko walking away from her would be the last thing she ever would see or remember.

Princess Zula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai, supreme ruler of the Fire Nation, was no more.


End file.
